Midnight Resistance
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Crimson and his Crimson Corps. Crimson has kidnapped your scientist grandfather and five more of your relatives, and aims to put his advanced plans to evil use.

Take control of a Resistance fighter in this scrolling shoot 'em up consisting of nine platform-based levels, each ending with a Boss to defeat. Your enemies appear on foot and in vehicles, and Crimson has also planted machine gun bays en route. 

Dead enemies release keys, which can be traded in at shop points for weapons. These weapons include machine guns and flamethrowers, for which ammunition must be bought - weapons are discarded when you have no suitable ammo. The control system is unusual - you can shoot in different directions and crawl along low ledges.

Trivia

Version differences

In the coin-op & Amiga versions, you must use two sticks to control the soldier and the gun; on Genesis & Atari ST, you can control both only with one stick.

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Description

Midnight Resistance can be put into the genre of the action games (mixture of Jump'n'Run and Shoot 'em up) and was released as a follower of Heavy Barrel in 1989 by the Data East Corporation, first as an arcade machine. The game principle reminds strongly of the Contra / Probotector saga, that was published by Konami and ported on the C64 under the name Gryzor by the software company Ocean. Unfortunately, the cooperative 2-player mode was left out in the conversion for the C64.

With a character resembling Rambo you need to free your kidnapped family. During this you need to face soldiers, tanks, jets and many other enemies in nine levels. Some of the defeated opponents lose red keys with which you can buy different weapons at the end of each level. If you lose a life, extra weapons and keys do not get lost. The end of the game depends on how many members of the family are rescued before the end fight. To be able to free all family members, you need 6 red keys in the 8th level. Each member of the family represents a different weapon.

Design

A very exact conversion - except for the missing two-player option and some small missing details in the levels - of the arcade machine with nine levels that scroll smoothly into all directions. The graphics are elaborated in - for a C64 - details and the level buildup is well thought-through. Through the precise controls the game is very well playable. Noticeable is the good conversion of the shooting into all directions independently from the walking direction.

Controls

While standing: 
Joystick forwards = jump or climb up 
Joystick left forwards Joystick right forwards = jump into the corresponding direction 
Joystick left Joystick right = walk into the corresponding direction 
press fire button Joystick right backwards = crawl into the corresponding direction 
Joystick backwards = duck (crawl) or climb down

While crawling: 
Joystick left forwards Joystick forwards Joystick right forwards = jump (get up) into the corresponding direction 
Joystick left press fire button Joystick right backwards Joystick right = crawl into the corresponding direction

With pressed fire button: 
press fire button With the fire button you trigger the weapon that is chosen. During this, the movement that was done before that (standing, walking, crawling) is continued. With the fire button pressed you decide the shooting direction with the stick. I.e. you can shooting into all directions independent from the walking/crawling direction
.
Further controls: 
- SPACE   to fire the weapon in the satchel (nitro, etc.) press the space key 
- To pick up an item (e.g. key or weapon) simply walk over it 
- To climb a ladder press the joystick forwards when you are at the right position. 

The armoury

It is located at the end of each section (level). You can carry up to 6 keys that you can swap here against equipment and weapons. In each armoury there are 6 different weapons that each cost a different number of keys. The weapon name can be seen on the sign above each weapon and informs you about the type of weapon. The weapons that you can buy with your keys are flashing. To choose a weapon you need to jump in front of the weapon and then pick up the dropped weapon. To leave the armoury simply go to the right.

Tips:

Although there is no time limit: Do not waste any time with collecting the keys as there are very many carriers of keys and you can only carry 6 of them.
Do not take too much time in the armoury or you will be without a weapon at the end.

Critics

H.T.W: "The level design is just great. Very diversified and although you partially encounter the same enemies, something new happens again and again. Be it, that you need to shoot your way through the ground or that you need to eliminate end bosses in the shape of a battle cruiser or fighter jets. With the extra weapons that you can buy at the end of each level, the game gets a slightly strategical touch. Although I am not really a fan of this genre I have to say: Highly recommended, just worth playing!".


https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Midnight_Resistance
